The Beast We Hide
by SherlockedOnCumberbatch
Summary: A war breaks out between two countries and a princess, maid in waiting, colonel, and a tanner, all stand in the middle of it all. Which side will win or will they both fight for so long that there could be nothing left when everything ends.


Dear Readers, I am so honored that you would take the time to read this story that I am creating. I have several chapters done but I am confused on if this is the right direction to go in. I would love for you to enjoy this story and leave behind any comments that you may have. I would love any suggestions or critiques that you may have! I will post as often as I can, my personal goal is to post a chapter a week so I hope that you enjoy this!

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Chapter 1

"What am I doing here?" That was her first thought as she trudged through the three feet of snow that was laid out before her. She thanked the heavens for the sun that was already well above the trees. With her constant moving and the rays that it gave she wasn't as cold as she had been the day before. Yesterday was like hell, no other way to describe it. Well more like if hell was a frozen pit of blizzards and frostbite. She was still struggling to keep her toes moving after them nearly being frozen off.

A branch snapped near her and quickly her hand reached for the dagger that was attached to her hip. As she noticed the white tailed bunny she slowly released her clutch on the blade. It sparkled against the sunlight and the snow. Its silver handle was beautifully engraved with small rubies in the hilt. It had been a gift from her mother when she had turned eleven; the year that she had started her training.

The young women adjusted the straps of her satchel and continued to march through the snow drifts. She had to be there soon, she had walked for days looking for it. Trying to focus on her footing she stared down at her brand new boots, or at least brand new to her. She hadn't had time to purchase a pair before beginning her climb up the mountain, so there was some girl out there who was definitely missing her boots this morning. She grimaced as the tops pinched her already worn toes. Probably karma for getting the wrong size for stealing them. She made a mental note of the town she had gotten them in so that her father could reamberse the girl at a later time. He wouldn't mind, at least she hoped he wouldn't.

It had been almost three months since she had been home. She could almost smell the cinnamon spiced tea that was being poured into cups next to her favorite window in her bedroom. The curtains probably would be flowing as the sea air rolled into the colored space. Her cat she knew would be lazily sleeping on the blue and purple pillows that rested underneath that massive window. She wished more than anything to be able to curl up there petting her cat. The sooner that she finished this task the sooner that she could get back home; to familiarity once again. She was gone from home more than she was there these days. Always being sent away by her father to do various things. With the growing tension, he had sent her out more often in the past six months than ever before.

Her hair had started falling out of its braid so she paused from walking to fix it. Before tying it back up she heard a stream nearby and headed over towards it. It had been a few days since she had done anything in the ways of cleanliness. Scooping up some of the freezing water she hesitantly splashed it on her face and began to scrub. She wetted her hair to braid it back completely. Her hair isn't exactly white but its not grey either; some say that when the light shines on it just right it looks like perfect silver. It had been passed down to her by her mother, her complexion she had gotten from her father. Some might have said that her light hair and dark skin were rather unusual but she loved it more than anything. She was proud of the traits that were passed down to her from her parents. She was the only one out of all her siblings to get both, the hair and the skin, all of them had their father's dark skin and curly brown hair. She knew that when she came into this world her mother was pleased to see that at least one of her many children took on some resemblance of herself. She was one out of nine to look the way that she did. Her father called her hair her crown. She was born with one, unlike her other siblings who would always simply dream of obtaining one.

While she was home her hair was always half up half down with only one braid in the back but on days like that day or rather the last few months that she had been traveling it was in her standard four braids. Two braids pulled the hair from the side of her hair and pulled it to the back. While the other two just hung straight down her back. It was quite long as she had never even had as much of a trim in her entire life. That was her mother's wish, that since her daughter had her hair it was to never be cut just as hers had never been.

The young women looked back down towards the running water. Her brown hazel eyes stared back at me. Soon she could return home. Just patience, she knew that she needed to grow in patience. She wanted to continue on to think that things could return to normal it as well but she knew that it would not happen for some time. After all that had transpired she knew that normal was something that was unattainable; not until the Kingdom of Ashana paid for what it had done. What they had done to her sister was something that had ruined any peace that had come to pass between the two nations. No, no peace was to be had; just war.

Her throat began to tighten so she took that as her cue to start walking again. Picking up the pace she walked straight through the drifts. It had to be here somewhere, that was all She can remember thinking. Father hadn't given me an exact location, just a vague area; in case of certain eyes lurking around. He trusted her to find it, find them; so she wouldn't stop walking till she found their camp.

It was another four more hours of silence before anything happened. Then suddenly out of the nothingness, a hand flew over her mouth and she felt the tip of a blade press against her thick fur coat. She knew it was a man because she had never seen a woman with such an extremely hairy arm.

"Who are you?" the voice grumbled.

"None of your damn business." She snapped as she turned her neck into the crook of his arm. In one swift motion, She pushed her chin under his arm and slithered out of his hold. At the same time, she had grabbed her dagger. Pulling back she raised the knife above her head. Silently she scolded herself as her breath became a little thin. She had not been training the way that she should have lately. The young women vowed to get up an hour earlier the next day to run a few miles.

The man that stood before me was definitely a brute of a man. He was covered in fur pelts, which hid his frame. His hair was extremely unkept and his beard mimicked his wonderful woodsman look. His feet shifted in the snow so her gloved hand tightened around the silver blade.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his mouth becoming a thin line.

"I think you already asked that question." her own lips becoming quite pursed. "Who do you fight for?"

The question seemed to make the man stand up a bit straighter. "Whoever pays me more."

"Who is paying you now?" If he said the wrong words she wouldn't hesitate to send her dagger straight into his heart. It wouldn't really be hard, just one simple swing of the arm. She had practiced it many times before. She had always hit her mark, no matter what weapon she held in her hands.

"Osmary seems to be lining my pockets now..." he readjusted the grip on his own dagger. "but you know things can always change."

She tried to not let her relief show on her face. "Do you know a Colonel Edric?" The man put his knife down by his side.

"You're Kana of Osmary." She didn't try to think of why he had taken the first part of her name out. She didn't think long as she saw him begin to kneel in the snow. Quickly putting the dagger back in its sheath she ran back towards him, pulling him up from his stance.

"Please- don't do that." She took his arm as he stood.

"My name is Amir, ma'am," he mentioned as he shook her hand.

"Well, I guess you got your answer on who I am." Kana bent down to pick up her bag that had been tossed aside during their scuffle. Slinging it back over her shoulder She straightened to see him walking towards the brush to do the same. After adjusting his bag he walked back towards her.

"Colonel said you were to be coming, but he didn't know when." He pointed to a break in the thick tree line in the woods. "Sir, just told me to come out here and wait for you." We started to walk to the small clearing. "I've been out here a week patrolling the area waiting for you." Looking down at her close and then back up he added, "I guess I just imagined a princess wearing a bit nicer clothes. Didn't mean to jump you."

"It's fine." She said a little stiffly. "I am just glad that we didn't slit each other's throats, that would have gotten us nowhere."

Amir somewhat snickered at the remark and they continued to march through the brush.

"So are we going to his camp now? The Colonel?" Kana tried to push her father's comments about the man out of her head.

"I have to pack up the supplies that I had taken out here and then yes." When he finished speaking as if on cue, a small tent could be spotted through the trees. "It's about a two-day walk from here."

Those words alone made her feet ache. It had been two days since she had been knee deep in snow and almost two weeks since she said goodbye to her horse to trek it into the forest. Her face must have shown her disdain for Amir said,

"We don't have to leave until tomorrow if your feet need a break." She was about to decline but as they neared his campsite She smelled something roasting. As the fire camp into view, She saw two rabbits cooking on stakes above the fire. I'm not sure if it was the heat or the smell of the meat but I just sat down next to his tent and didn't move.

"I will take that as we will leave in the morning." Kana didn't say anything in response she just shifted her bag off of her shoulders and to the ground. She surveyed her surroundings even though there was not much there. It was just a small tent and fire pit. The rest of his stuff must have been inside the small enclosure.

"What is the Colonel like, Amir?" She knew that the Colonel was not from Osmary, as well as many of his men. Colonel Edric was in fact from Ashana but had fled the country following the fall out between the two nations. Since then he had been hiding in the woods and her father had sent her to bring him back to the palace.

He had left almost everything behind so that he could fight for something just. He had been a High Lord in Ashana but sacrificed his home, land, and title to fight for the King of Osmary. She had been joyous to hear that after all that had happened even the people of Ashana were not just going to sit by and still support their King.

"How would I describe him?" Amir sat down huffing by the fire to turn the rabbits so that they might be cooked properly. "He's what some may define as a, well as a ladies man. You might call him a flit." He began to poke the meat with his knife.

"A flirt?" Kana immediately regretted being the one sent for this task.

She had grown up in a world full of men, always telling me what to do. As a princess, her hand had always been a hand that men wanted to marry. So that meant that when She had turned old enough the palace was constantly filled with courtiers. Many who approached the young princess on multiple occasions hoping to win her over. This was nothing easy and time and time again they would leave one by one. The only girls in the family had been her sister and herself, with an additional seven brothers she had learned how to hold her own. Though now with her gone, Kana was alone. Not that they had ever been that close growing up. Her sister was a queen in the making while he was a soldier prepping for battle.

Her mother had come from a tribe in the outer corners of our land. She had crossed paths with Kana's father when they were young. They had first met on a battlefield. She had fought like any other soldier and her Father fell in love the first time that they spared together. When her sister first came into the world their father became sullen that she was not a male. Though, the law of our land says that the first born shall become ruler over Osmary; boy or girl. So this child, their mother's firstborn would not be the fighter as she had been but rather an elegant queen. Her name was Lina and she had been a vision. She encompassed everything their father had wanted her to become. She was poised in every way; so soft-spoken, but with words that captured everyone's attention. While young men knew to stay away from their future queen it was sometimes seen in their eyes the lust they held for her. She had been such a perfect, delicate flower; then those monsters destroyed her.

After Lina had been born the Queen bore three sons, which she named after all her Uncles. One was named Fitrei, another Bronte, and the last Tye. Her Father was proud of his sons and the warriors he knew that they would grow up to be either on the battlefield or in a courtroom. So when she entered the world her father no longer cared if she was a boy or girl. He named her Kana, even though her mother hadn't been too fond of the name. He knew she had a lot to live up to. Having three older brothers and a sister whose destiny was to become a queen. Her name means powerful, and every day she tries to live up to that name. To honor the name her Father had given her.

After Kana came the rest of her brothers. With each son that came into the world, their mother grew weaker. Oona and Orman were twins which almost broke her. The doctors had told her to not have any more children after them, that she would not make it through the childbirth. She had tried not to, drank so many vials of liquids that one would think she ran her own apothecary. However, when she was nearly seventeen she became pregnant with her last, Mathias. It was too much for her in the end. She passed away only a few days after he was born. On her seventeenth birthday at five thirty in the morning; that is when she remembers hearing her Father yell for the doctors. The funeral was only three days later. It had been almost five years since she had passed away, five years since she had celebrated her birthday; not that she had any desire to.

She has to give her Father credit, he tried to raise his little army of children well. He was never the same, however, after she left him. Her leaving was a hole in his heart that would never properly heal. He never blamed Mathias, never put any of that weight on his small shoulders to bare. He raised his children the way that he knew his wife would have wanted. He had lost so much, it really was a monster to put him through losing a loved one all over again.

"Ma'am?" Amir pokes her with the end of a stick and shook her out of her daydreaming.

"I guess I will make her own judgments when I meet this Colonel Edric face to face." She truly was not looking forward to meeting him but had to just keep reminding herself the sooner she gets them to Osmary the sooner she can get to be surrounded by her family once more. Kana looked back over to Amir who was staring at the princess with a raised eyebrow. Shrugging off the distant memories she tried to strike up a conversation with the man sitting across from the fire pit.


End file.
